One Night
by Unclear Destiny
Summary: Tae-san gets the shock of her life nearly a year after Aoba disappeared. One shot probably.
1. Chapter 1

DMMD not mine okee dokie

* * *

Sleep didn't come easily to her these days. Rather the nights were left in a dreary haze of toss and turn, unable to take the solace of rest in this empty house.

Inevitably every night she would find her way onto her back to stare at the ceiling only to give in moments later. Dragging her weary body out of the futon she would dress in a robe and slippers and make her way to the kitchen to brew tea.

Inevitably every night her feet would lead her up the stairs, old joints creaking mildly in protest, to come to his room. Her fingers would find the door and draw it open, unworried about waking an occupant for there was none.

That there was none was no doubt the reason for her lack of sleep, Tae knew. Aoba's disappearance had left a cold hollow of unrest in her chest and unfortunately there was nothing she knew of except his return that would heal the void.

"_I'll definitely come back."_ He had said then, nearly a year ago now, with something approaching optimism shining in his hazel eyes.

Tae had wanted to believe him. To this day she still wanted to believe him.

Midorijima had changed vastly with what was no doubt a failure on her grandson's part to defeat Toue. Platinum Jail had expanded its walls with the aid of their brainwashing technology, pushing the Old Residential District further and further until there was hardly any room for them. The disappearance of people occurred much more frequently now, dragged off either by Morphine or the police and dissidents were often found dead in their beds.

Tae knew her own death was encroaching and she frankly doubted that it would be from natural causes no matter what the police would say upon seeing her corpse.

Tonight was a night like many others. She had spent it tossing and turning her weary bones into soreness before giving up sometime around two. Rising stiffly with a deep sigh she slipped her tired self into the kitchen, reflecting that the rising expense of groceries should prevent her from her nightly tea.

She boiled the water anyways. Inflation was something that hardly mattered to her at current.

After all she wasn't exactly cooking for two people anymore.

Grief struck her skull with a chisel and she uttered a soft 'Tch' beneath her breath, cursing her stupid grandson for what must have been the fifty-thousandth time.

The dwindling sparkle of hope beating in her chest was nearly vanished. Damn her for getting attached to that small blue haired child.

Damn her.

A noise stirred her from her musings. Furrowing her brow the woman turned her gaze ceiling-ward. That had almost sounded like the roof…?

Probably just a cat.

Rising from her seat to shuffle over to the stove, the strawberry haired woman decided not to ponder on her empty kitchen and instead went through the motions of preparing her nightly tea.

Her hands paused. Another noise...a burglar perhaps? Or even an assassin come to slay her at last? Snorting over her melodrama as she set the infuser into the steaming water, Tae frowned. The least they could do, if that were the case, was to come through the damn front door like a gentleman would.

The soft creaks and groans ceased. She turned to look behind her and found nothing.

Her imagination maybe? Perhaps, and the house she lived in was getting old so it could easily have been that as well. All the same however there was a pulling in her gut, a strange suspicion brewing and she left her tea to steep as she turned toward the stairs.

The old wooden steps grumbled neath her feet as she ascended them, creaking and cracking. How she yearned to hear another set of feet rush up and down these stairs, as they were wont to do in a rush every morning.

Damn her for becoming attached.

Stepping across the landing the woman slouched her way with a keen eye, tracing the familiar shadows of her home. As per usual the door to her grandsons room was closed, likewise with his parents across the way.

She had given up on seeing Haruka and Naine years ago.

Aoba on the other hand…

Her fingers found the slat in the door of her grandchild's room and pushed it to the side, the soft 'shick' perking her ears.

She had left his room exactly as he had. The pile of jeans and books still sat next to the small dresser, the sound system atop it untouched. On the side opposite the bed the computer remained turned off and an ashtray sat undisturbed in the middle of the small table.

She could recollect the day when she had found it turned to a pigsty; table overturned, drawers pulled out, computer a mess on the floor alongside the four men who were making such a racket as to rouse her from her sleep.

Aoba had looked horrified and dismayed. Koujaku, the boy's womanizer of a friend was wrestling away with a young looking stranger while another gas-mask wearing man stood by. It had been quite the scene to walk into.

She had hit them all.

Times had been good. Foreshadowed with the threat of Toue yes, but good all the same.

Tae's eyes slid about the empty room and she breathed a huff of a sigh. She had wondered if perhaps...but no, that was stupid of her.

It had just been the house complaining of its old age after all.

Her hand grasped the side of the door in preparation to close off the room yet again when a sound at the veranda caught her attention. Alarm slipped through her, quick as a shot and she turned a pale look to it. A burglar after all, come to steal from her grandson's room?

The lock broke and a prickle of anxiety shot up her spine. Backlit by the moon a bundle stumbled in passed the curtains and a startle froze the breath in her chest.

The silhouette was a vaguely familiar one with a mess of white hair and equally white boots tapping against the wooden floor. It was the mass in the person's, a man's, arms which concerned her more however.

Bundled against the cold of the night with a white longcoat was a person oddly small in an out of proportion way. Too large to be a child but too small to be an adult surely, the persona laid deathly still bridal style in the stranger's arms. Moonlight glinted off of the pale skin of one cheek and numbly Tae realized that this oddly proportioned person had long tresses of silky blue.

Her heart gave a flutter and the tension between herself and the stranger dissolved as the man took a single step forward before slowly collapsing to his knees.

"G-Grandmother...Aoba-san, please...help Aoba-san…"

"Aoba?!"

Tae rushed forward with a spryness that hardly fit her old age, eyes round and wild as she dropped to her knees in front of the pair. This person who could have been her Aoba was blindfolded and remained deathly still in the man's arms, and with a shaking hand she reached forward and took his pulse.

Strong and there. A relief surged through her that was thoroughly shattered by her next discovery when she peeled away the corner of the coat he was wrapped in.

Tae's eyes grew larger, horror rearing her back in a surge so strong it stole her breath away yet again. Everything seemed fine at first. Aoba was rather thin, any traces of muscle he had had been lost in the year he had gone so his ribs peeked through his skin.

Two shoulders rose and fell with the state of his soft breathing and with trembling fingers Tae reached forth and pressed her hand against the stump that should have led to the rest of her grandson's arm.

Then the odd proportions…

Seeking a world of denial the elderly woman removed the coat from around his legs, unshy for the fact that he was naked underneath and seeking only reassurance.

Grief lined her features as she took in the sight of her grandson's amputated thighs.

Tae shut her eyes tight, yearning for composure, and drew in a quaking breath.

'_Oh Aoba...What have they done to you.'_

Minutes later Aoba was safely ensconced between sheets and pillows and Tae turned her hard gaze to tousle-haired stranger, who's hair colour she vaguely recognized as belonging to the gas-mask man that year ago on the eve of Aoba's disappearance.

"First things first I suppose." Seated on the edge of Aoba's bed and longing to hold the young man's hand the elderly grandmother narrowed her eyes. "What is your name?"

Eyes the shade of coral widened momentarily before the skin beneath them creased and he turned away, appearing to gather courage.

He spoke up after a moment in a soft timid tenor.

"Clear...my name is Clear." He shut his eyes tight and turned his head even further away.

"And I'm afraid...that I am the monster who did this to Aoba-san. I don't know how good my apologies are but...I am so, so very sorry."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: DMMD still not mine.

So here's chapter two I guess. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

"Hey, Aoba-san…"

The figure of his beloved lay still on the table sans the rise and fall of his chest, the only real expression of liveliness he had left to him anymore. A sheet, barely whiter than the man's paper thin flesh, covered him from his chest to the foot of the table.

Clear was rather proud of his work, or so he thought. Aoba's legs and arms had been neatly severed some time ago, leaving his lovely doll not much more than a torso and head. His eyes had been the first to go, thought the white haired man as his gloved hand rose to gently stroke the black blindfold resting upon Aoba's face. And now it was time for the last operation; Aoba's vocal chords.

However…

The hand resting lightly upon his dear's face ascended to his own cheek instead and Clear rubbed it thoughtfully, pulling back his fingers to eye the shimmering wetness staining his fingers.

How odd. Why do I shed tears?

"Why am I crying?" He mumbled, a hint of a frown between his brows.

Rubbing his fingers together he dropped his hand back to his side and he uttered a slight sigh of brief annoyance. Oh well, mild inconveniences or not it was time to get to work.

"Are you excited Aoba-san?" He smiled toward the figure on the table as he switched on the lights above and turned to his instruments. "I'll miss your voice but

alas this must be done. You'll finally be perfect, Aoba-san. I'm looking forward to it."

His voice dropped into an intimate tone as he picked up the scalpel, turning slowly toward his beloved and, placing one hand to brace the other's chest down he lifted the blade to press against-

"!" Clear flinched as the blade dropped from his nerveless fingers, expression warping into one of pain.

His coral eyes shut tight as a pounding of pain vibrated through his skull, hand coming to grasp at his hair instead as he hunched over the figure of his lithe lover. Tears, which he had thought had abated after the single one slipped instead faster down his face as a pressure dragged him slowly to his knees.

"What…why…" He groaned, eyes sliding shut in pain.

What was this? A strained moan parted his lips and caused them to tremble as he bent over his knees, one hand firmly grasping the edge of the table. Through a sea of cotton he heard a soft mumble from above him as though Aoba was voicing confusion or concern after his well-being.

It gave him no strength. The pulsing was intensifying now, sinking slowly down his throat and into his chest. Another mumble, louder now, and another one, another one.

"No. No. No. NO. NO."

No, that wasn't Aoba. That was…

Him?

His head knocked back abruptly with a loud gasp as a flash of light stabbed through his eyes, flashes assaulting him in a sharp and threatening tempo.

Clear clutched at his hair in a vice-grip with both hands now, listing slowly into the cold sterile floor. Soft whimpers punched through his grinding teeth, his body slowly contracting, relaxing to the tattoo of the pulse firing throughout his body.

It hurt. It hurt it hurtithurtITHURT-

Blackness assailed him and his body relaxed for a final time, sinking into a deeply unconscious state.

When next he woke an hour had passed. Clear stifled a soft groan as he rolled onto his back, breathing deeply as his circulatory pump hammered at his ribs. Silky white lashes parted toward the sky and he stared at the ceiling, the bright lights turning his gaze to squint.

What…had happened?

For moments he laid there, simply breathing as he tried to recollect the events that had led to his blackout. Piece by piece they floated across the ether of his mind back to him and he blinked.

He had been about to cut into Aoba's throat for the final surgery when-

Wait.

Aoba.

"Aoba-san!" Clear gasped and rolled onto his feet, sinking over the form of his beloved with a panic and grief stricken expression.

Aoba was, of course, exactly where he'd left him; a prone figure on the table enshrouded by cloth. His mouth dropped open and a shudder rolled up his spine.

"Aoba…-san…" He breathed then shut his eyes with a grind of his teeth.

He remembered now. Everything. Hearing what he'd thought was his Master's voice, waking in his bed and leaving his home once, then again only to stay by Aoba's side. He remembered breathy conversations at night surrounding existentialism, he remembered Aoba's reassurances that his face was surely no different and that the reality that it was, indeed, not.

He remembered Aoba's hands on his face and he remembered the sweet taste of his lips as he kissed the slighter male beneath the rain.

He remembered the invitation into the Oval Tower, he remembered the Alphas and the sear of the knife crushing his key lock. He'd sung and he'd failed and then...

And then under the weight of the reprogramming he'd done this. He'd caused pain to Aoba and had defiled his body, stolen from it piece by piece until what remained was but a husk, a blinded shell, of what the man had been.

The tears sweltered in his eyes and a soft whimper escaped him. Reaching out with trembling hands he slipped them beneath Aoba's blanketed form and pulling the man toward him. Cradling his master's amputated body against his chest Clear sank back to the floor and buried his face in one gaunt shoulder, unable to stifle his sobbing any longer.

He'd ruined him. He'd ruined his precious Aoba and there was no going back. The past was a good 293 days behind them. This was their present now. This was their future.

This was his fault, and none of the whispered apologies or tears he was leaving against Aoba's fair skin could fix it.

He sat like that for some time simply crying into Aoba's shoulder uselessly, trying his best to digest what he'd done and figure out where to go from here when a sound halted him.

"C…le….ar…?"

Coral eyes looked up in a blink and stared into Aoba's face. The blue haired male was staring down at him without eyes, mouth set into a mildly perplexed line. It had been months since he'd last heard Aoba's voice much less his own name come out of those chapped lips and the sound filled him with a feeling of resolve.

He would fix this, somehow someway he would repair Aoba's heart and body.

It was the least he could do.

A trembling smile that Aoba couldn't see swept across Clear's face and he lifted a hand to brush against the others milky cheek.

"It will be okay Aoba-san." He whispered, unable to help as he stole a kiss from the other's neck.

Determination was filling him. "I will make everything better."

Escaping from the Oval Tower, much less from Platinum Jail, would not be a simple feat. Finding someone who could help him would no doubt be even harder but he had to do it.

For Aoba's sake he would succeed.

Standing from the floor with a determined set to his full mouth the man glanced about himself. He needed a plan of action. He needed…

In the end there was no plan, only a mad dash to freedom with Aoba safely bundled against the night in his coat. It was perhaps more than obvious to passing people and Alpha both that something was up as he ran through the halls, legs pumping at the speed of a professional runner and it wasn't long before he was being bellowed at to stop. Clear glanced over his shoulder, expression grim.

He could not afford to be caught again, not now and especially not by the smiling face of the Alpha behind him. He turned forward again and shot through a door only to find himself nearly dropping down a set of stairs.

Nimbly catching himself he twisted about a startled human and bolted down the stairs. They were busy today as they were most days, causing him to repel off walls and hand rail as he dodged about.

Security bells began to chime as he hit the next floor. Hissing through his teeth as the hallway was blanketed in red lights he looked frantically about himself when a voice from behind him caught his attention.

"What does Brother think he is doing?" The Alpha purred, eyes gleaming treacherously as he advanced.

"I am not entirely too certain. Perhaps he has malfunctioned again?" Replied another as he slid out from behind his brother, leering dangerously.

Shit. That was the only word to describe this situation. They couldn't fight each other with their key locks still intact but Clear had no faith in how long that would last for them and remain the same for him. Narrowing his eyes in a glare at the pair as he backed away he tightened his grip around Aoba, only to grunt in surprise as his back came against a surface.

He was cornered.

There was no way out. He had failed.

'_Aoba-san…I am sorry…'_ he gritted his teeth and glanced hopelessly behind him only to find his own reflection and the night sky staring back at him.

A window.

There was a stupid idea circulating through his brain, one that was high-risk to both himself and to Aoba. Clutching to the armless, legless body of his loved one Clear turned his gaze back to the pair of approaching Alphas and sucked in a deep breath.

"Oh hoh? This again?"

But no, this was not for them. Withdrawing as much air as his diaphragm could handle Clear spun on heel, shut his eyes, and _screamed_.

The grunts of pain from the Alphas behind him hardly bothered him but their approaching footsteps did. Praying to anything that may be listening for this scheme to work, he screamed harder.

The madly vibrating glass shattered with a shriek and Clear's eyes shot open. Freedom was a step away.

He leapt for it.

Open air met the soles of his feet and for a moment a feeling of pure weightlessness overcame him. His powerful legs had pushed him yards away from the floor and for a moment a romantic musing overcame him.

Could he touch the stars, he wondered. Could he reach them and never come down, take Aoba to a place away from everything that could ever hurt him again?

Clear shut his eyes for a brief moment.

His feet hit a rooftop hard enough to send jolts through his legs and tucking around Aoba's defenceless body he rolled before turning and staring up at the tower behind him. He could faintly see the Alphas in the distance as they too leapt from the broken window.

"Tch." Glowering in their direction Clear re-secured his grip around Aoba and turned to book it.

Over the rooftops he flew, a familiar method of transportation that gave him some mild comfort. Grasping pipe and chain he flung himself into the sky and onto rooftop until finally, _finally_ he saw it.

The door.

Needless to say the panda was rather startled as he broke it down and ran like a shot for the exit. He had no doubt the Alphas were still behind him. He'd need to lose them in what was left of the Old Residential District.

And he did it. Somehow he managed to evade them, bolting through the alley ways and over rooftops until even he was dizzy and feeling lost.

Breathing harder than he could ever remember begging for air before Clear slumped against a wall, tucking his face into the hollow between Aoba's shoulder and neck. The man in question was trembling finely, no doubt confused and perhaps even frightened of his sudden change in circumstance.

Clear wished there was some way he could reassure him.

Instead he pushed away from the wall and began walking.

Getting to the remains of the East district wasn't difficult, considering the size of what remained of the Old Residential District. Clear felt a pang of guilt as he looked around at the soulless who shambled about, interspersed with the few who remained somehow alert.

Even so he stuck primarily to alleyways and rooftops, avoiding the people entirely lest they be a part of Morphine.

There was only one place he could think of going, for he could not fix Aoba himself.

Grandmother's.

It didn't take long to find the familiar nook of alleyway and Clear, feeling weakness begin to tremble in his legs, jumped first to the roof of the abode and then down to the veranda that he knew belonged to Aoba's room.

The sliding door was, of course, locked and Clear swallowed before gently settling Aoba against the rail. The poor thing must have been exhausted from their sudden flight from Oval Tower because he seemed to be fast asleep now and didn't stir a bit as he was settled down.

Back in Glitter Clear had often watched Aoba sleep, worried the man would pass away in his slumber like his Grandfather had. During that time he had come to notice that, while not necessarily a restless sleeper, he would shift around to snuggle deeper into his pillow or blankets or something of the like.

In other words, he would move with life.

Since Clear had taken Aoba's legs that had changed.

Tearing his eyes away from the deathly still bluenette Clear turned his attention to getting the door open. Popping the lock was a simple affair, one that he had after all done once before and, numb prickles of exhaustion beginning to sag him, he picked his beloved back into his arms and stumbled inside.

What he met there shocked him.

It was Tae, staring at them as though transfixed. For a moment he stood in tense silence before gathering his courage and speaking in a hoarse, shivering voice as he sunk slowly to his knees.

"G-Grandmother…Aoba-san, please…help Aoba-san…"

"Aoba?!"

The elderly woman picked up her robe and rushed forth with a speed that surprised Clear, but he supposed it was understandable. Likewise the grief and horror that drew further lines upon her aged face as she inspected her grandson for the first time in nearly a year.

The guilt that assaulted him in that moment was a legendary one and Clear bit back on a sob. He had no right to cry. This was not about him.

They got the slumbering man settled into bed and Clear watched as Aoba seemed to relax deeply into the sheets, as though sensing he was in safe territory for now away from the horrors that he had struggled through for so long. Tae fiddled with the blanket around Aoba's shoulders for a moment, patting it down firmly before breathing in a heavy sigh and turning her strict gaze toward him.

"First things first I suppose." Seated on the edge of Aoba's bed and longing to hold the young man's hand the elderly grandmother narrowed her eyes. "What is your name?"

"Clear...my name is Clear." He shut his eyes tight and turned his head even further away.

"And I'm afraid...that I am the monster who did this to Aoba-san. I don't know how good my apologies are but...I am so, so very sorry."

With a shudder wracking his shoulders Clear blinked away his tears, turned to Tae and bowed deeply at the waist.

"For what I did to him…I will never be forgiven." He managed to whisper.

He heard a sigh from somewhere above him but didn't dare look upward. Thus to say he was surprised when a hand smacked the side of his head hard enough to knock him off his feet was somewhat of an understatement.

Blinking with wide eyes up at the rose haired woman Clear held the side of his head, stunned.

"You're being melodramatic." Aoba's grandmother huffed, peering down at him with chips of ice in her eyes.

Then she turned and walked over to the door, resting her arms behind her back.

"Follow me."

Who was Clear not to obey? Though he cast a reluctant look toward Aoba, still neath the covers and wondered if it was really okay to leave the man like this he ended up following after Tae anyways.

By the time he found her in the kitchen the elderly woman was preparing a second mug of tea and Clear couldn't help but flashback to the time when they had all converged upon the house and Aoba had served the tea instead with a sore head but a smile on his face.

That smile…he hadn't seen it in so long.

Would he ever see it again? Did he have the right to?

"Quit dawdling boy and sit down." Tae snapped at him, ruining his daze and slowly Clear nodded and did just that.

"Thank you…" He whispered as he accepted the tea.

Tae sat at the head of the table next to him and took a light sip of her own, appearing to ponder the circumstances for a moment before she set down her cup and turned her attention toward him. Clear resisted the urge to quail underneath the woman's firm gaze and finally turned his gaze back to the side.

What was this? He couldn't help but wonder. Why on earth was this woman serving him tea and sitting him down instead of kicking him out or something to that effect? Why wasn't she screaming at him in a rage after what he'd done to her precious grandchild?

Why?

"You're probably wondering," Tae gradually murmured. "Why I'm not throwing you out. The answer to that is an easy one."

Taking another sip of her tea the woman breathed out heavily through her nose.

"You are much too pathetic to have the gall to do what you claim you did. So instead of tossing you out I want you to explain to me what exactly happened in Oval Tower."

Clear stared at her with shock clearly written over his face before swallowing hard and setting his mug on the table. Wrapping his hands together on his lap he averted his eyes to them, roseate hues darkening before shutting entirely.

Then, haltingly, he told her everything. At first his words were stilted and hesitant as he explained his failure to keep Aoba safe then they came out of him in a gush as he got to the reprograming, absently remembering the way Aoba's voice had carried after him as they were dragged into separate rooms.

The memories after the reprogramming were admittedly hazy but that didn't stop him from recounting the horrors to her of what he did, settling his guilty conscious on her shoulders for the both of them to bear.

Finally the kitchen lapsed into silence. Clear worried his gloves as Tae drank slowly at her tea, face void of any expression except stern. His own had no doubt gone cold, the offering left untouched on the table.

Eventually Tae set the mug on the table and rose with a crick of her back and turned toward him.

"Look at me boy." She said, an unidentifiable husk to her voice.

Reluctantly he lifted his pink hues.

"I'm only going to say this once." Tae continued, folding her arms behind her back. "Stop it with that guilty face because whether you like it or not what you did was not your fault. Clearly you were not in control of your actions. It is as I thought, you are too pathetic to be blamed for what happened to Aoba, so rid yourself of that thinking and put your brain to something useful."

Leaving Clear blinking in shock Tae twisted on her heel.

"We are going to need to leave because I have no doubt your foolish self has dragged them in our direction. I shall pack the kitchen and leave you to gather supplies for Aoba. Understood?"

"Grandmother…"

"Get going!"

Clear jolted and jumped from his chair with a nod, spinning around and running back up the stairs.

He found Aoba's room with ease and slipped back inside, looking about in a way that he never had the chance to before.

Eventually his gaze slipped back to the bed, and Aoba on top of it. The man was sleeping soundly, just as they'd left him and Clear breathed a soft sigh of relief.

He'd half expected Aoba to be gone by the time he got back but that appeared not to be the case, thank goodness. Walking slowly toward the bed he knelt beside it and reached to rest his hand upon the sky haired man's face.

"You will be fine, Aoba. I'll make sure of it." He whispered before standing again and beginning to rummage through the room.

He gathered all the clothes he could into a blue suitcase, barely remembering to pack along hygiene products. He wondered if he would be the one to brush Aoba's teeth as he had for the past almost-year, remembering absently that he had enjoyed the way that the smaller man was completely dependent on him for care.

It made him sick.

Not wanting to leave his loved one exposed he picked out a pair of clothes from Aoba's dresser and gently shook the man awake.

"Nn…"

"Ssshhh…" Clear hushed the panicked whine that rose from his beloved's throat, hating himself all the more for having to rouse the formerly slumbering youth.

"Aoba-san…We've arrived at your home but now we must leave so I am going to dress you. Is that…is that okay?"

There was no further response. Clear shut his eyes tight with a pained grimace before exhaling firmly through his nose and setting to work.

Aoba's clothes, he was sure, had fit the man at some point in time but that was no longer. Rather they hung loosely around his torso and waist and not for the first time the white haired male felt a pang of guilt stab at him relentlessly.

This was his fault. Aoba had come to him a fit young man with a bright future and he'd ruthlessly destroyed it. No matter what Tae said the responsibility for this was his and his alone.

Knotting the loose garments around thighs and arms, Clear bundled Aoba into the jacket he found hanging on the wall before a sound caught his attention.

Tae stood at the doorway, gaze solemn, and nodded to him.

"Come. We must leave."

Tae had packed what food she had into bags, likewise cleaning the the bathroom of any medical supplies and packing a couple of changes of clothes. It was all a bit much for her to carry so she wrapped the bags around the handle of the suitcase and let the man handle it. She was frankly somewhat impressed at his strength as he dealt with the suitcase, her bags and Aoba all at the same time, one arm cradling Aoba against his hip like a babe while the other dragged along the suitcase.

Aoba…

Seeing him like this saddened her beyond belief but there was a piece of her, a very large one, that was furious over his treatment. At first she had wanted to abuse the man, Clear, for what he had done to her grandchild but what was the point in that?

He wasn't to blame. He had been brainwashed just as the members of Morphine, robot or no and his actions had been outside of his control. At the least she should be thankful he had returned her grandchild to her…even if he was in an exceedingly sorry state.

She would have him fixed up though, and soon. Where there was a will there was a way, and then they would be able to take their vengeance upon Toue properly.

The thought filled her with a grim satisfaction and she hid her smile as she slipped on her shoes and walked out the front door.

"Take to the roof if you can, boy, and follow me." Tae grunted to Clear behind her who blinked and nodded before taking the suitcase in arm and leaping onto the roof.

Tae watched after him for a moment before turning in the direction of Haga-san's shop.

The shop building wasn't an especially old one but the mining tunnels beneath it were. The island of Midorijima was rife with them actually and they dated back to before even her birth. At first she had been skeptical of the safety of them but they had held up this long without caving in so hopefully they should last a little longer.

Apparently they had been coal mines, back in the day when such a thing was necessary for transportation. Of what she knew the industry had peaked here in the early 1960's when the veins ran dry and the green island of Midorijima had turned from coal exports to other means of sustenance.

However, the mines remained. And that was where they, the few who had escaped the grasp of Toue, were safest.

Upon reaching Heibon, Tae waved the robot down from the next roof over and went in around the side to the door around back. Withdrawing a key from about her throat the woman unlocked said door and slipped inside on soundless feet, ushering Clear in after her. Aoba seemed to be somewhat more aware now, his head perked from the white haired man's slim shoulder as he looked around in vain.

After hearing Clear's story Tae knew that the boy's eyes were gone. It was a bitter pill to swallow knowing she'd never see that familiar glittering hazel ever again but she would live with it just as Aoba had to.

For now at least.

"Into the basement, quickly." Tae said as she locked the door after her and hurried to the basement herself.

Clearly confused the man rushed after her, awkwardly dragging the suitcase and bags down the stairs and into the staff room.

Heibon was closed now. With the sheer lack of business in the wake of the brainwashing it had no other option.

'_The rich get richer and the poorer get poorer. Typical struggle.'_ Tae thought bitterly as she surveyed the empty room.

The economy of the Old Residential District had tanked with Toue's expansion. There were no people to trade money since the majority of them were catatonic while the rest were afraid to leave their houses.

Hopefully they would soon be able to turn the tables on the smarmy rich folk inside Platinum Jail and reclaim their island and people before it was too late.

Now that they had Aoba back, surely they would be able to do such a thing.

Tae looked about the floor before crouching down with a mild grunt of exertion to pry her fingers under the floorboards. Most of the floor underneath them was concrete but there was one hole.

That was where they were going.

"Grandmother…?" Clear asked faintly as she worked the floorboards up.

"Be quiet."

Tae worked quickly and soon enough a sizeable hole had appeared. Thinking that it couldn't be easy enough to have an entrance in her own damn house the woman found the ladder and began to slowly work her way down.

Honestly this was too much physical exertion for a woman her age.

Huffing lightly as she hit the bottom of the tunnel she quickly moved out of the way. A mere moment later Clear jumped down, prompting her to give a mild glare while muttering about the physicality of young people.

"Replace the floorboards and lets go." She grumbled and then began to head off.

The way wasn't overly dark, lit as it was by old electric lights strung up the sides, but it was a rather long walk and Tae could feel her hip begin to grow sore from the constant walking. Old age had made the recovery from the dislocation some time ago a long and incomplete one so too much walking often served for discomfort.

Combined with her lack of sleep and her tossing and turning during her attempts to rest, it made for an unpleasant combination.

Nonetheless she walked.

Behind her Clear looked around them in silent awe. It wasn't much to see but the very fact that it was there at all impressed him as he had not known about the coal mining of Midorijima's past until now. Tightening his grip somewhat around Aoba's thin frame he turned to Tae, wondering if this could possibly be what he thought it was.

Forty one and a half minutes passed by his count before he began to hear the soft rumble of talking and footsteps, and it was eleven minutes after that before they came to a wide expanse. Clear's eyes grew wide.

People, roughly seventy-one by his count milled about between tech and crates. Few of them wore kimono, others were dressed modernly and he swore he caught the sight of a couple of labcoats walking around.

"Grandmother…" He mumbled softly to Tae, peeling his eyes from the sight and looking toward the shorter woman instead. "What is this?"

Tae uttered a soft 'Tch' and frowned up at him. "What do you think, dummy? This is the last of the resistance of Midorijima."


End file.
